Thinking of moving to Collin County..... (Houston, Dallas: low crime, houses, safest area)

[CravenClan]

Hi I was wondering if anyone can give me info on Collin County, McKinney area, am considering a visit there in the next month, and wanted to get some info before hand....

Best schools (public) as we have 3 little kids that would be attending.
Safest areas
weather
easy to adapt and make friends.
nice housing at affordable pricing

We are in Southern California, and have said for the last 4 years we are outta here, and now we are more ready. We are in the desert area, so we are used to HEAT, but not really humidity. If anyone has any views on the market there, for housing, that would be great. Are people pretty friendly and outgoing? Do you see kids outside in the summer or after school? Is there a lake for boating? Not fishing, but to take our boat out and enjoy a summer day?

Also i am wondering about Spring TX, i know it is closer to Houston, can anyone tell the major differences? Which is better for schools? Housing?

We are normal down to earth people, just lloking for the same, not pretencious attitudes, just want a better place to raise our kidos....

Thanks so much..

We visited Austin about 2 years ago, i just was not ready to get out of here then....

[FalconheadWest]

Can I ask how you picked McKinney out of all the cities in the Dallas area? McKinney, if you want honest, is one of those cities that a lot of people moved to because it was cheap, but are now selling their homes to get back closer into town and moving into Plano and Richardson and Carrollton.

I guess it has to do with where you plan on working as the drive from McKinney to anywhere south of 635 is going to be a bad drive.

For schools, just google the latest test scores, but you'll need to call the individual schools if you want information beyond tests. Tests don't tell the full stories.

And I'm not sure what you mean by "nice" housing. They are regular track-home communities, many lower-end homes so they're going to look a little boxey... however, there are some expensive areas of McKinney, but since you said "affordable" I'm assuming you're in the Fox 'n Jacob price range.

If you want to compare it to Spring, I think Spring is more expensive and WAAAYYYYYY more humid! ANything near Houston is HUMID!

And there are lakes all over the place, it just depends on how far you want to drive. You're going to have fishermen everywhere as we're always asking them to move when we are wakeboarding.

[$DFW8$]

Originally Posted by CravenClan

Hi I was wondering if anyone can give me info on Collin County, McKinney area, am considering a visit there in the next month, and wanted to get some info before hand....

Best schools (public) as we have 3 little kids that would be attending.
Safest areas
weather
easy to adapt and make friends.
nice housing at affordable pricing

We are in Southern California, and have said for the last 4 years we are outta here, and now we are more ready. We are in the desert area, so we are used to HEAT, but not really humidity. If anyone has any views on the market there, for housing, that would be great. Are people pretty friendly and outgoing? Do you see kids outside in the summer or after school? Is there a lake for boating? Not fishing, but to take our boat out and enjoy a summer day?

Also i am wondering about Spring TX, i know it is closer to Houston, can anyone tell the major differences? Which is better for schools? Housing?

We are normal down to earth people, just lloking for the same, not pretencious attitudes, just want a better place to raise our kidos....

Thanks so much..

We visited Austin about 2 years ago, i just was not ready to get out of here then....

McKinney is an awesome area to live in! We don't actually live in McKinney, but live very close by in Frisco. I have a ton of friends and co-workers that live in McKinney, and they absolutely LOVE it! I have never heard of this so called trend of people moving there because it was so cheap and then selling their homes and moving to other Dallas areas. McKinney is growing like crazy! The area is VERY family-oriented and safe, so you will definitely see kids outside playing together all the time and there is pretty much kids where ever you go. There is a ton of really nice, new housing developments in the area. What do you mean when you say affordable? This varies for everybody. There is something in basically every price range up to several million. Probably the nicest neighborhood in McKinney is Stonebridge Ranch.
The schools are very good from what I have heard. You might even be able to live in a neighborhood where there is schools inside the neighborhood.

[CravenClan]

I think i picked McKinney because Collin County came up on best places to RAISE A FAMILY list. I looked up housing on homes.com, and saw like you said from middle of the road to millions....ONLY because the taxes are much higher than where we live, i would really like to be $400k or less. I saw that Stonebridge neighborhood, it looked really nice, the houses are really beautiful, i remember that when we visited Austin, WAY different than the stucco boxes we have here in California! haha lol.....

If anyone has another suggestion of cities within Collin County, PLEASE tell me.....

Also do you by chance know the schools in the Stonebridge neighborhood, that way i can look them up great schools. Or any housing/neighborhood names for me to look into...

Weather i figured by the beach (houston) would be way worse, and i definately saw a HUGE difference in pricing in Spring.

Thanks again

[$DFW8$]

Originally Posted by CravenClan

I think i picked McKinney because Collin County came up on best places to RAISE A FAMILY list. I looked up housing on homes.com, and saw like you said from middle of the road to millions....ONLY because the taxes are much higher than where we live, i would really like to be $400k or less. I saw that Stonebridge neighborhood, it looked really nice, the houses are really beautiful, i remember that when we visited Austin, WAY different than the stucco boxes we have here in California! haha lol.....

If anyone has another suggestion of cities within Collin County, PLEASE tell me.....

Also do you by chance know the schools in the Stonebridge neighborhood, that way i can look them up great schools. Or any housing/neighborhood names for me to look into...

Weather i figured by the beach (houston) would be way worse, and i definately saw a HUGE difference in pricing in Spring.

Thanks again

As far as Collin County cities go, they are all good and are all a lot alike. McKinney, Frisco, Plano, and Allen are the major ones in Collin County.

[DFWNewHomeSpecialist21]

Originally Posted by CravenClan

I think i picked McKinney because Collin County came up on best places to RAISE A FAMILY list. I looked up housing on homes.com, and saw like you said from middle of the road to millions....ONLY because the taxes are much higher than where we live, i would really like to be $400k or less. I saw that Stonebridge neighborhood, it looked really nice, the houses are really beautiful, i remember that when we visited Austin, WAY different than the stucco boxes we have here in California! haha lol.....

If anyone has another suggestion of cities within Collin County, PLEASE tell me.....

Also do you by chance know the schools in the Stonebridge neighborhood, that way i can look them up great schools. Or any housing/neighborhood names for me to look into...

Weather i figured by the beach (houston) would be way worse, and i definately saw a HUGE difference in pricing in Spring.

Thanks again

Look into Allen or Prosper. Both are family-oriented and have great school districts, they are "Recognized" school districts by the Texas Education Agency!

[MurphyPl1]

Murphy, Texas (SE Collin County)

Split by Plano ISD (west side) and Wylie ISD (east side)

#7 on D Magazine's Top 10 Suburbs.

low crime rate, hometown feel, close to 190 and the Richardson Telecom Corridor
all lots are 1/4 or larger with many that are 1/2-1 acre. Small footprint (5 sq mi) means everyone is "neighbors" and has a small town community feel while being near all possible options.

[CravenClan]

Thanks i will check those out.....anyone move from california to TX and can tell me about it, i'd love to hear it....

Thanks

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by CravenClan

I think i picked McKinney because Collin County came up on best places to RAISE A FAMILY list. I looked up housing on homes.com, and saw like you said from middle of the road to millions....ONLY because the taxes are much higher than where we live, i would really like to be $400k or less. I saw that Stonebridge neighborhood, it looked really nice, the houses are really beautiful, i remember that when we visited Austin, WAY different than the stucco boxes we have here in California! haha lol.....

If anyone has another suggestion of cities within Collin County, PLEASE tell me.....

Also do you by chance know the schools in the Stonebridge neighborhood, that way i can look them up great schools. Or any housing/neighborhood names for me to look into...

Weather i figured by the beach (houston) would be way worse, and i definately saw a HUGE difference in pricing in Spring.

Thanks again

McKinney is very far away from Dallas and your commute to almost anywhere south of 190 would be hellish. Southbound highways coming out of places like Frisco, McKinney, Allen, etc in the mornings are horrible because of the congestion. If you are going to be working south of 635 I think you should reconsider.

[FarNorthDallas]

Originally Posted by CravenClan

Thanks i will check those out.....anyone move from california to TX and can tell me about it, i'd love to hear it....

Thanks

A good chunk of the population of Frisco came from California. There is a Frisco message board - do a search for it Frisco Online, can't post the link. Since Californians think it's normal to commute over an hour to work they don't think it's a big deal to live in Frisco and work in downtown Dallas or Irving or other faraway places and spend their lives on the road. You don't have to do that here. You can live closer to work. Not bashing Frisco as I like Frisco, but only do that if you work within 8-10 miles or so.